


Tables Turned

by NerdInABlueBox



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: BLACKWING - Freeform, Dirk whump, Everything's gone to shit, Hurt Dirk, Oh god, Post Season 1, Project Blackwing - Freeform, Rescue, Todd has pararibulitis oh no, pararibulitis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-09-12 08:04:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9063469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdInABlueBox/pseuds/NerdInABlueBox
Summary: Dirk has been taken by Blackwing, along with Bart, the Rowdy 3, and countless others like them. Todd has pararibulitis now. Amanda and Vogle got away. Now what the heck is happening? I'm bad at summaries lol, this is post season 1





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh no not now” said Dirk. Friedkin stood next to the pillar, waving. Behind Dirk, a purple van rolled up, and many pairs of hands roughly grabbed Dirk, pulling him into the van.

 

He struggled. Writhing and punching at everything he could, He heard the sound of electricity being charged, and soon enough, he felt something prod his ribs. In an instant, his entire body was in pain, and he heard a scream. It took him a second to realize that it was his. After a moment, the pain was gone, but he was left panting, helpless and unable to resist. A bag was pulled over his head. It had a musky smell to it, it must have been in the van for a long time without being used. After this, his arms were forced to the back of his body. His shoulder protested of course. He groaned and winced as he heard the sound of handcuffs being clicked into place around his wrists behind him. It had only been two days since he had two rods sticking out of that same shoulder, and the wound had barely any time to heal.

 

The van had left, and, Dirk, unknowingly, was headed off to a government facility along with many others like him.

 

====

 

The attack had subsided. Todd was laid on the floor, still recovering from the agony he had previously been in. It was a full minute until he realized that Farah was shouting his name. He looked up at her in his placid state.

 

“Thank god, are you alright Todd?”

 

“I-I don’t really think so.”

 

“What was that? Was it-”

 

“We-we’ll talk about this later.” Todd sat up. It was then that he realized that the entire restaurant was silent. He must have drawn a lot of attention to himself.

 

“We should go.” said Todd.

 

“Okay, I already paid, but…”

 

“What?” asked Todd.

 

“Dirk’s gone.” said Farah.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“He told me to excuse him and left the restaurant, and when I went to follow him, he was gone.”

 

“This is bad.” said Todd.

 

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” responded Farah.

 

Todd looked down at his now cracked phone. It showed three missed calls from Amanda.

 

“Oh my God Amanda!”

 

Todd got up and started bolting for the exit. Farah closely followed.

 

\---

 

The brakes of the van screeched and the van suddenly halted. Dirk, who was not buckled in, was thrown to the back of the van. He felt the stitches on his shoulder rip, and felt warmth oozing down his arm. He heard doors open, and he was dragged out of the van. He sensed light hitting him. He must be in a more open area, but he didn’t feel fresh air. He wasn’t outside. Everything about his situation felt oddly familiar, He realized that he was back in the blackwing facility. Suddenly, he was walking. Two arms grabbed his and he was off in some direction, probably towards his cell. The pain in his right arm at this point was so great that darkness welcomed him, and he collapsed.

 

Colonel Riggins heard the commotion before he saw it. The higher authority had gone completely over his head and took over project Blackwing. He knew that it had to have been Friedkin that had sold him out somehow. Afterall, he seemed to be in charge now.  He heard the shouting and yells of a subject collapsing or something. He ran up to the group of men that were now attempting to carry the subject to their cell. He noticed the subject wearing a yellow jacket, and immediately recognized it to be Dirk’s.

 

“Dirk!” he yelled, still fighting the urge to refer to him as Svlad or Icarus.

 

The man didn’t move. He didn’t seem to be conscious either, but Riggins couldn’t tell because of the cloth bag on his head.

 

“Gentlemen! Take that bag off his head! Is he not a human being?” ordered Riggins.

 

One of the soldiers turned to look back at him.

 

“We were told not to take orders from you, sir.” said the soldier.

 

“By who?”

 

“Orders from above sir.” came another.

 

Riggins noticed the blood on Dirk’s shirt.

 

“You need to help him. He needs medical attention!” protested Riggins.

 

“We are getting to that sir.” said the same soldier.

 

The group of people headed off, carrying Dirk between them.

 

“Well well well, I guess the tables have turned.” came a voice to his right.

 

Riggins turned to face none other than Sergeant Friedkin.

 

“You need to stop this, or at least help me. I know these people better than anyone el-”

 

“Yes yes, I’ve heard all of this, and frankly, I’m sick of it, sir.”

 

“But-”

 

“It’s time for a change sir, and I was put in charge of this and I intend to do it more aggressively than you ever could or would’ve..”

 

“That’s not going to work.”

 

“Just you wait, sir.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here's some more

“Amanda? Hello?” Todd was on his phone trying to reach Amanda.

 

“Dirk? Oh my God, are you alright? I heard screaming.” said Amanda.

 

“Yea I’m fine. Are you okay?”

 

“The Rowdy 3 got attacked and taken by the government I think. Vogel is still here.”

 

“Vogel? Who’s- nevermind. Where are you?”

 

“Let’s just meet at your apartment.”

 

“Okay sounds good. Be careful.”

 

“Ya.” replied Amanda.

 

Todd looked to Farah, who seemed cross. 

 

“Wait, where’s Dirk?” The two of them were standing in front of the diner. Farah had already paid the check, but so much had happened in less than four minutes. 

 

“He left the diner and never came back. When I came here he was gone.”

 

A shadow fell across Todd’s face. The Rowdy three had been taken by the government. That’s what Amanda had said. 

 

“Dirk must have been taken as well.”

 

“As well? What do you mean?”

 

“The Rowdy 3 were taken by the government, Amanda thinks.”

 

“I don’t like this Todd.”

 

“Me neither. I hope Dirk’s okay.” said Todd. 

 

“Ya, we need to go meet Amanda.”

 

“Agreed.” 

 

The two of them headed off towards the Ridgley building, with worry in their minds.

 

\---

 

Dirk was roughly shoved into his cell. He tumbled onto the concrete ground, panting from the excursion. He had regained consciousness right before they got to the cell, surprising some of the guards around him when he suddenly burst into movement. The bag was taken off his head and his handcuffs were undone. He was too tired to resist in anyway when they patted over his body to check for weapons of any kind.

 

“Joke’s on you” he said. “Everything’s connected. I’ll get out of here. It’s inevitable.” his voice was getting weaker by the moment. The soldier who was in there with him just smirked. He threw in a red box, and left his cell. 

 

Clutching his arm to his chest, Dirk reached for the box and opened it. It was obviously a first aid kit. Despite this, he was way too tired from all the events of the day to do anything. He dragged himself and the kit onto the nearest bed. It was then that he realized that there were two beds in his cell. He decided to think on that later and rest. 

 

\---

 

Two hours earlier…

 

Bart stood outside of her car with a rock in her hand. Ken remained in the car. She was confident that she would get out of this situation. From behind her, a bag was placed over her head and her hands were handcuffed. It seemed as if the universe didn’t need all of these soldiers and government officials to die, because none of them did. Ken wasn’t taken. In a matter of 5 minutes, there was no trace of anyone but Ken ever being there. 

 

Ken got out of the car. He was in the middle of nowhere. Bart was gone, and he knew that he had to get her back. 

 

This proved to be a challenge, because he had no clue where she was taken. He did, however, remember 

Bart saying something about her being with others like her at one point. Maybe this had something to do with that.

 

Ken only knew of one person who might know what was going on: Dirk Gently. He headed back towards town.

 

\---

 

Amanda, Vogel, Todd, and Farah all met at the Ridgley building.

 

The four sat in what was left of Todd’s apartment. 

 

“I’m gonna get us some water.” and with that, Todd left to the kitchen.

 

“Where do you think they were taken?” asked Amanda.

 

“Probably to the blackwing facility.” responded Vogel.

 

“What’s that? What’s Blackwing?” asked Farah.

 

“It’s this project. A government thing where they take people like me and…”

 

“And what?” pressed Amanda.

 

“They, do stuff. Like experimenting and they try to harness our power to see if they can understand the universe better from it.”

 

Silence was after that. None of them could bare to think about the horrors that happened in the facility.

 

Todd came in with four cups of water. He had heard the conversation from the kitchen, for it was a really small apartment, and thus he didn’t need any explaining to be caught up. 

 

“Do you know where this facility is Vogel?” asked Amanda

 

“Kinda. I was only 18 when I escaped with the Rowdy 3, but I kinda remember.”

 

“That’s good.” said Farah. “We should head towards wherever this place is.”

 

The three started to stand when Todd dropped the tray with all the water on it. Glass shattered over the floor. 

 

“Todd what’s wrong?” asked Amanda.

 

He smelt smoke. It was heavy. He looked at his hands. They were on fire.

 

“I-it’s happening again.”

 

“Again? What do you mean Todd?” asked Amanda.

 

It burnt. The pain was terrible. He gasped, and dropped to his knees, the shattered glass on the ground cutting into his legs. He groaned and started breathing heavily. Farah ran to his side to keep him from falling even more into the glas.

 

“This happened to him in the diner as well.” said Farah.

 

“It did? Does he-”

 

“I think he does.”

 

Todd started screaming. His whole body was on fire. Farah dragged him onto the couch where he then curled into a ball, groaning and yelling in pain. Vogel stood up, and walked to his side. Blue energy seeped from Todd and into Vogel. 

 

“Mmmm. All to myself. That’s great!” said Vogel.

 

The pain subsided. Todd looked back down at his hands. They weren’t on fire anymore. He wasn’t on fire anymore.

 

“You have pararibulitis.” said Amanda.

 

“Yea.” confirmed Todd. He sat up. Blood was running down his legs. He ignored this. “We should go.”

 

“Fine. We’ll talk about what just happened in the car.” said Amanda.

 

\---

 

The door to his cell opened. A woman was pushed in by a large number of soldiers. The handcuffs were taken off along with the bag on her head. She looked oddly familiar. 

Then the realization dawned on Dirk. 

 

“Oh no this is not good.”

 

The woman looked at him.

 

“Oh it’s Dirk Gently.”

 

Dirk squeezed his body into the corner of his bed, still clutching his arm.

 

“Get away from me.”

 

“You’re hurt.” said Bart.

 

“Leave me alone. Please.” pleaded Dirk.

 

“Okay.” 

 

Bart went and sat down on the other bed. 

 

Silence past with no words.

 

Then an hour. 

 

After two hours, Dirk’s vision started getting blurry. At this point the pain had faded so much that he forgot that he was still losing blood. 

 

He sat up and reached for the medical kit. Bart noticed this movement, but said nothing. He pulled out the disinfectant along with the bandages. He saw the stitching kit, but decided against it, based on the fact that he couldn’t sew. 

 

He took his jacket off, and proceeded with unbuttoning his shirt. He looked to the other side of the room, where he saw Bart still looking at him. He turned a little to at least create an illusion of privacy. He splashed the disinfectant over the now bleeding wound. It stung, and he visibly winced. Bart noticed, but still stayed seated. She was intrigued by the situation. Ken told her that she was his protector, but she still didn’t really understand. She just knew that she couldn’t kill. Like she tried. The universe just didn’t want her to. 

 

Dirk unrolled the bandages and attempted to wrap them around his shoulder one-handedly, unsuccessfully.

 

Next thing Dirk knew, he felt a hand on his, taking the bandages from him and tightly wrapping around the wound on his shoulder. 

 

“There.” said Bart.

 

She went back to her cot. 

 

“Thanks.”

 

Dirk skipped his bloodstained shirt, and put on his jacket.

 

The silence returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)  
> more to come


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a bit shorter I think, sry

No one spoke in the car. Todd was in the back with Amanda. Vogel was in the passenger’s seat, and Farah was driving. They had thought of listening to music earlier but quickly decided against that. Apparently, they all hated each other’s taste in music. In the end, silence was the best compromise. Amanda was giving Todd the silent treatment, so there was no chance of conversation either. Farah was quiet, and Vogel seemed to be sad about the rest of the Rowdy 3. Separation anxiety maybe.

 

Vogel had said that the facility was in the middle of some desert area near Seattle. Considering that there weren’t many places like that in the state, they quickly identified the only possible place this could be, via the internet. The four of them had predicted that the odd unidentified warehouse in the small desert area was the only plausible option. 

 

The bad side of this was that it was an hour away, thus the awkward silence.

There were only two incidents throughout the trip there. At one point, Amanda had an attack. It was something about her lungs being on fire, but that passed with some meds that she had made sure she brought. 

 

The second of the two was when they were rear ended about halfway there.  They pulled over. The driver who rear ended them, surprisingly enough, was Ken.

Farah recognized him as the man who stopped her from shooting the crazy woman who was trying to kill Dirk. Since this was the only thing she remembered, it was bad news. 

 

“You!” yelled Farah.

 

“W-what-”

 

“You tried to kill Dirk.”

 

“N-no not really. Bart was but-”

 

“You were an accomplice and that was enough.” Farah drew her gun.

 

Ducking his head, Ken said, “I-it’s not like that. Not at all.”

 

“Really?”

 

“No! Bart had this thing, where she had to- like...I dunno. She called herself a holistic assassin.”

 

Farah quieted then, and Todd and Amanda perked up.

 

“Holistic...assassin?” asked Todd.

 

“Yeah, I was looking for Dirk Gently, because I thought he would have answers or something.”

 

“Answers to what?”

 

“Well Bart got taken by the government, and I wanna get her back.”

 

The three looked at each other.

 

“What?” asked Ken.

 

“Dirk got taken as well we think. We’re on our way to get him back...we hope.”

 

Ken smiled then. “Well what are the odds that this would happen?”

 

“Everything’s connected.” muttered Todd.

 

After this, the three of them agreed that Ken didn’t seem to be a threat. His car, or Bart’s, was totalled from the collision. It wouldn’t start anymore. They agreed that he could go with them, and that’s what happened.

 

\---

 

Dirk woke up with a start. He had been dreaming of his holistic detective agency taking off. He and his sidekick, Todd, were solving cases together and everything was perfect.  _ Why did it have to end. _

He sat up and rubbed his shoulder. It still stung from the previous day.

 

“Good mornin’” said Bart.

 

Dirk looked over. The crazy woman was eating,  _ was that a steak? _

 

She must have caught him looking because then she said, “you can ask for whatever you want.”

 

He nodded. He also noticed that she had different clothes on. She was in what looked like a standard boring old gray clothes. Gray sweats, white shirt, gray hoodie. 

 

Dirk then looked to the foot of his cot and found a uniform laying there folded along with another first aid kit, and a menu.

 

He hadn’t eaten since the diner, so he skipped right over everything else.

 

“So I can just order anything off of here?” asked Dirk.

 

“Yep.” said Bart, as she took another bite of her steak.

 

The door to their cell opened. A soldier was at the door. “Need anything?”

 

“Ah yes, can I get two stacks of pancakes and a chocolate milkshake with a side of fruit?” asked Dirk.

 

The soldier wrote this down on a notepad. “Anything else?”

 

“Yea, I want another steak.” said Bart.

 

“Alright.” said the soldier, who took this down on his notepad as well. “Coming right up.”

 

Satisfied, Dirk picked up the pile of clothing and the first aid kit and put it on his cot. 

 

Ten minutes later, Dirk was in fresh clothes, with fresh bandages, and a huge tray of food in front of him. Bart had another steak. He kept his yellow jacket on. He wouldn’t let the facility he was at take that part of him away.

 

After he and Bart had finished their meals, they were taken from their cell. 


	4. 444444444

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi :)

Dirk should have known that there was a reason for all of that amazing food. 

For the majority of the trip, Bart and he were together. They even passed the Rowdy three and some other people they didn’t recognize at one point. The were led to a hallway. Bart was escorted into the first room on the left, and they kept taking Dirk further down the hallway until they reached another doorway on the right.

 

Inside the room, there was a large metal table with a mini rolling one on the side with various instruments and syringes. Dirk immediately knew what was going to happen, and he quickly turned and bolted away from the soldiers. How could the CIA allow this? It was inhumane. He was met by Wilson at the end of the hall who caught him in her grasp. She was surprisingly strong for a person of her build. The Blackwing soldiers Dirk had just escaped had caught up to him. This time, they gripped both his arms firmly.

 

“Dirk, are you enjoying your stay?” asked Wilson.

 

“No. It’s terrible. It’s extremely cold at night, your medical facilities don’t actually do anything, and service in general is hopelessly slow. If you want we can discuss it at a different place.”

 

“I’m afraid there won’t be any need for that. Thank you, though, for your input.” and with that, Wilson kept walking down the hallway, checking on various rooms along the way, probably other subjects. Dirk was dragged back into the ominous room.

 

\---

 

The car was completely silent and it ran down the freeway, nearing the facility. Farah and Amanda sat in the front. Meanwhile, Ken, Todd, and Vogel were all crammed into the backseat. No one spoke, despite the closeness of them all.

 

After four hours of driving, they arrived at the facility.

 

\---

 

After being reduced to trousers only, the soldiers strapped Dirk onto the table. He wouldn’t stop struggling, and the soldiers were obviously getting impatient.

 

“You can’t do this to me! I have friends now! I’m not the same person I was!”

 

The soldiers ignored him and finished strapping him onto the table. They stepped back, and a man in a white lab coat entered, along with Wilson.

 

“Hello Project Icarus.”

 

Dirk kept quiet.

 

“Oh? No words? That’s a shame.”

 

“Where is Riggins.” asked Dirk.

 

“Busy I’m afraid.” said Wilson, although everyone in the room, including Dirk, knew otherwise.

 

“Well anyways, today won’t be too test heavy. We’re going to primarily test your...physical presence in relation to Bart’s over there in the other room.” said Wilson, as she nudged her head in the general direction of the other room.”

 

The man in the lab coat stepped forward. 

 

“My name is Dr. Montgomery Johnson, but you can call me...Doctor Johnson.” said the man. His voice hinted of an accent of some sort, but Dirk couldn’t make it out. It was faint. Maybe South American? Dirk responded with a nod in acknowledgment.

 

“As Wilson here has described, we will now start with some base tests.” The doctor hooked him up to various machines to detect his vitals, brain activity, etc.. Dr. Johnson then brought out a syringe and smiled at Dirk.

 

For the next two hours, Dirk was prodded with various needles and gadgets, obviously taking samples from different parts of his body. The spinal tap hadn’t been much fun. 

 

After the two hours, they kicked it up a notch. They started testing his pain tolerance, despite the fact that the needles had already been really painful. The doctor brought out a scalpel. Dirk was so exhausted at this point that he could barely protest.

 

“No, please don’t.” pleaded Dirk. The doctor didn’t listen. With a ruler, the doctor dragged the scalpel down his torso for a precise two inches. This was already almost too much for Dirk. He groaned as Johnson did so. After the inch, Johnson moved onto the other side, and did another two inches. Dirk yelped this time. This was continued for another two times in different places. Dirk was groaning still. He didn’t have the energy to scream, although he was inside.

 

The cuts had concluded the end of the tests. He was stitched up, then dragged back to his cell since he had no strength to walk back.

 

His clothes were thrown in after him and the door was closed. Bart, who had seemingly already been back for a while, looked at him. He was still conscious, but wasn’t moving. He was too tired to, after all. After ten minutes of rest, Dirk slid into his clothing, went under the single blanket provided to him on his cot, and closed his eyes.

 

_ Three hours earlier… _

 

A different doctor was starting to test Bart. On his way over with the first needle, he tripped and dropped the syringe. It shattered all over the floor. He sighed. Accidents happen. He got another, and stood over Bart, who was lying down, relaxed, even with her restraints. He attempted to plunge the needle into Bart, but one of the soldiers in the room accidently caught their foot on the table Bart was strapped to, and the doctor jabbed himself with the needle instead. He cursed, gave the soldier a dirty look, and then tried again. Not a single needle was inserted into Bart. Eventually, he ran out of syringes.

 

Frustrated, the doctor decided to skip to the pain tests. Going in for the first incision, the scalpel broke on contact. It was a faulty scalpel. A long string of curses came out of the doctor, and he kicked the cabinet to his right. Incidentally, that kick also opened the drawer above the cabinet which was driven into his knee. The doctor cursed even more.

 

“Screw this” muttered the Doctor. He left the room, to which he found Wilson immediately. 

 

“Screw this facility and everyone in it! I quit!” and with that, the still unnamed Doctor left the facility, and never came back. 


	5. The next chapter

After 3 hours, Dirk was dragged back into his room, exhausted. Stitches covered his body, and he could barely move without wincing. Bart was already inside, sitting on the edge of her bed, obviously contemplating life or something. She had already been there for many hours, as the doctor who was supposed to be doing tests on her quit his job. Dirk laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, but he couldn't fall asleep. He opened them to find Bart staring at him.

 

"What do you want?" asked Dirk, too tired to have good manners.

 

"What did they do to you?" asked Bart.

 

"Well the same things they did to you."

 

"So nothing? Why are you so tired then?" asked Bart.

 

"What do you mean nothing? They've been using as a lab rat for the past 3 hours!"

 

"Oh. The man who was supposed to test me kept dropping stuff and hitting stuff. He quit after ten minutes." said Bart.

 

Dirk was speechless. He had just endured endless torture and the one person who was supposed to be his counterpart had her own doctor quit. It was then that Dirk realized that it was probably part of the fact that she was a holistic assassin, and given the fact that none of their captors were dead yet, Dirk assumed that none of them deserved to die. 

 

Dirk moved his head to face the wall and closed his eyes. 

 

=====

 

Farah came back from her scouting the facility with a report. 

 

“It seems to me that there aren’t that many guards, and it doesn’t seem that hard to get into. I’m guessing that their budget is low, and they can’t afford the extra help, but that is good news for us.” said Farah

 

“So what’s the plan then?” asked Todd, anxious to rescue Dirk.

 

“Vogel, Ken, and I will go in and get them. You and your sister will guard the car.” said Farah.

 

“Wait, but you could use extra help. What if they’re all unconscious or something?” questioned Todd.

 

Amanda knew why Farah didn’t want either Todd or herself to go along. They might have an episode and endanger the whole mission.

 

“We can’t take any chances.” said Farah.

 

“Ya and I doubt that they’ve been able to do anything to Bart.” added Ken.

 

Todd didn’t like the idea of not going in himself, but not having any better ideas, he gave up. 

 

“So it’s decided then.” confirmed Farah. With that, Ken, Vogel, and herself turned and headed towards the facility.

 

====

 

Dirk had only gotten ten minutes of sleep when the guards came to get him for another session. None came for Bart, so Dirk assumed that they didn’t know what to do with her. Dirk shakily got to his feet, but quickly realized that that was not a good idea. He started to collapse when a familiar face caught him. It was Friedkin. Dirk groaned. This was beyond humiliating. Friedkin and another guard dragged him out of the room and down the hallway. They arrived at a room, much different than the one he had been at earlier. There was a wooden table with two chairs on either side, one of which had cuffs attached to it. Dirk was forced to take off his coat and dress shirt, leaving his tank top on.

 

The guards then placed him in that chair and cuffed his hands. They then proceeded to leave. 

 

“Have fun” said Friedkin, not sarcastically, as if completely oblivious to what was going to happen.

 

Two minutes after they left, a big burly man with white hair entered the room and sat in the chair opposite Dirk. They sat in silence, when the man asked Dirk a question.

 

“What is your name?” asked the man.

 

“Dirk Gently”

 

He paused, then asked again,

 

“What is your name?”

 

Again, Dirk answered, 

 

“Dirk Gently.”

 

The man stood up, and walked around the table. Noticing the bandaging around Dirk’s shoulder, he pressed his hand into the still open wound.

 

Dirk tried to keep in the scream, but the pain was unbearable.

 

The man’s hand was kept firmly in the wound, and he asked,

 

“What is your name?” of which Dirk reluctantly answered,

 

“S-svlad. Svlad Cjelli.” The pain died down when the man released his hold. He stayed standing next to Dirk.

 

“Now, to my understanding, you recently encountered a time machine, correct?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Where is it now?”

 

“In the past, where it belongs.” The man punched him across the face.

 

“But where is it now?”

 

“We sent it back to the past!”

 

This time, the man punched him in the gut. Dirk couldn’t breath for a few seconds, but quickly recovered.

 

“It’s to my understanding that there was another one.”

 

“What do you mean.”   
  


“Another one, that was destroyed by that annoyance of a detective.”

 

“Oh, THAT one.” Dirk was punched again.

 

“Where is it?”

 

“It’s where we left it at a shut down facility in the zoo!”

 

That answer seemed to satisfy the man. 

 

“But I don’t think you can use it for anything anyway. Now that I think of it, I’m not even sure it’s still there…”

 

Dirk kept rattling on and on but the man heard a transmission over his earpiece. It was garbled, but it said something about people breaking in and to subdue all subjects. He looked to Dirk, who was still rambling on. He walked behind him, grabbed his head, and slammed it against the table. Dirk was unconscious, his head lying against the table. 

 

The man walked out of the room to subdue all other subjects.

 

==

 

The moment Farah, Vogel, and Ken encountered the first holding cell, alarms went off. They quickly went to work. Ken disabled all the electric locks with a device he created. Together, the three of them freed all of the Blackwing subjects. Most of them appeared fine, and ran out of their cells and towards the exits. They came upon the last two cells. One was the Rowdy Three’s cell, and the other was Dirk and Bart’s. Vogel was overwhelmed when he reunited with his people. Together, all four of the Rowdy three ran towards the exit. Farah and Ken continued to the last cell. When they opened the door, they saw two beds. Only one was occupied. Bart didn’t look very surprised.

 

“That took long enough” said Bart.

 

“Glad you’re okay.” said Ken.

 

Bart gave him a quizzical look, but eventually accepted it. 

 

“Wait,” interrupted Farah. “Where is Dirk?” 

 

“Oh, they took him away again.”

 

“Where?”

 

Bart shrugged. “Down the hall and to the right.”

 

Farah bolted. She had to find Dirk. Bart and Ken continued to the exit.

 

Farah ran down the hallway and turned right. There were a few doors on either side of the hallway, but only one was lit. She started towards it when a large man came out of it, gun drawn. Farah launched herself at him and brought him down with one sweep of the leg. She knocked the gun out of his hand, and proceeded to shoot him five times.

 

Satisfied, Farah stood up and made her way into the lighted room.

 

She gasped when she came across Dirk’s unconscious form. Working quickly, she pulled out a bobby pin to undo the cuffs. It wasn’t working. They were definitely military-grade. She gave up and decided to examine Dirk. He was bleeding from his shoulder, head, and various points on his torso. She knew she didn’t have time to fully examine him, as reinforcements were bound to be coming. She checked to make sure he was breathing, and then threw him over her shoulder. She jogged with the heavy form of Dirk over her shoulder out of the facility and to the car where the Rowdy Three, Todd, Amanda, Ken, and Bart were waiting.


	6. uh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was that? I haven't updated this story in 4 months? Impossible.

The group gathered around the car and quickly realized it wouldn’t fit everyone. Especially Dirk, who would need more room for medical care. Farah laid her eyes on a black van, only 20 meters away or so.

 

“There!” yelled Farah, pointing to the van.

 

“We can’t just steal it can we?” asked Todd.

 

Farah ignored this and started towards the van. She was starting to struggle under the weight of Dirk. The rest of the group followed. Martin smashed open the window to the driver’s side with a lead pipe he picked up along the way and opened the door from the inside. The alarm went off but the sound of the alarms blaring from the building masked it. He hotwired the car and the engine started. 

He turned to face the group. 

 

“Come on.”

 

Cross joined him in the passenger’s seat and everyone else went into the back of the van.

 

Farah lowered Dirk onto the floor of the van. His body took up one third of the floor space so everyone else crowded to the left side of the van. They started moving.

 

Dirk’s hands were still stuck under him as the cuffs hadn’t come off yet. Farah sighed. This was not going to be easy. She quickly decided that the first aid would have to be done while he was on his side. His left one, as that might relieve the pressure on his shoulder wound.

 

Just as she started to peel off the bandage on his shoulder, the van jolted and she ended up pushing into the wound more. This seemed to be enough to wake him.

 

His eyes fluttered open.

 

“T-todd? Farah? Where am I? Ah-” he winced when the van jolted again.

 

“We’re in a van. We rescued you from Blackwing.”

 

Dirk looked around, his mind still muddy from the pain now emanating from his head. He tried to move onto his back but quickly realized why he had been put on the left side.

 

He groaned. He had pulled at his shoulder wound and felt a soreness throughout his body that he couldn’t seem to shake off.

 

“Farah I - I can’t move my arms.” said Dirk.

 

“They put you in military grade cuffs from the looks of them. A bobby pin didn’t do the trick. We’re going to have to find another solution. Possibly a blowtorch.”

 

Dirk didn’t like that idea.

 

“It-it hurts everything hurts.” He was starting to get restless. 

 

Gripps and Vogel sat uncomfortably, farthest away from Dirk with Ken and Bart while Amanda and Todd were focusing on Dirk. How could they help him? 

 

“Are we going to the hospital?” asked Amanda.

 

Farah considered it, and was about to answer when Dirk chimed in.

 

“No. We can’t. They’ll be looking for me. They’ve got money now. Lots of money. They will use their resources to track me--to track us.” he nodded to the Rowdy Three. They did not acknowledge his nod.

 

“Well if not, uh, we can find a safe house! Or maybe go back to the Ridgley-”

 

“No” said Dirk, interrupting Farah, “The Ridgley was burnt down.” 

 

“By who?” asked Todd.

 

“Friedkin and his CIA friends.” answered Dirk.

 

Silence followed. Both Dirk and Todd had lost their apartments and everything has gone to shit.

 

Silently, Farah decided to get to work on Dirk. She had found a first aid kit in a compartment in the van. It was very...convenient.

 

It was hard to fix him up with him on his side and a constantly jolting van, but she did what she could. 

 

The least she could do was stop the bleeding.

 

She knew she couldn’t stitch anything without risking further damage so she took out the iodine packets from the small kit, poured them into a bottle of water that was already in the van, and proceeded to wash out the open wounds. 

 

She started with his shoulder. She slowly poured out the mixture. Dirk hissed and squeezed his eyes shut. It burned, by god it burned. She then moved onto the long line of blood that marked his chest. 

She started pouring, letting gravity carry the disinfectant all the way down the wound. Dirk cried out this time. He had tried to be strong but quickly realized he couldn’t. Everything hurt. Before she tried to wrap anything, she prodded his abdomen and sides for signs of damage. Every prod resulted in a resounding whimper from Dirk. The pain was undoubtedly great.

 

From what she could tell, he had two cracked ribs, a broken one, and no doubt the rest were bruised in some way.

 

“Can you breath alright?” asked Farah.

 

“It feels a bit tight. And it hurts.” admitted Dirk.

 

“Probably the ribs.” said Farah.

 

“Is he gonna be okay?” asked Todd, who was worrying about his friend.

 

“I think so. But there’s a lot of resting involved. Let’s just hope the universe will let him.” said Farah, half jokingly.

 

The van pulled up to a motel. It was nothing fancy, but it would suffice for their situation. Ken went into the office to check out a room. 

 

The bored looking receptionist didn’t make any eye contact with Ken when he walked in.

 

“Hi uh, could I book a room?” asked Ken.

 

“What kind?” asked the receptionist in a dull tone.

 

“W-what do you mean?”

 

“How many beds? What size?” the receptionist said in that same tone, as if he didn’t really care and was 

eager to see Ken leave.

 

Seeing as he had plenty of money, Ken said, 

 

“Two Queens, if you have a room like that.”

 

The receptionist handed him two keys in a slip that had the room number on it and Ken payed for the room in cash. Lucky for him, the receptionist didn’t really seem to care that he was paying in all cash. The receptionist gave him change and Ken was on his way.

 

He went back to the van and pointed out where the room and joining parking space was and Martin drove there. Everyone piled out of the van and into the room. It was a ground floor, luckily.

  
  


Martin carried Dirk through the door and lowered him onto one of the beds roughly, but pretty good for the type of man he was.

 

Behind him, Bart came into the room, holding a blowtorch.

 

“...Where’d you get that?” asked Farah, pointing to the blowtorch.

 

“I found it.” replied Bart.

 

Farah gave her a quizzical look, and decided that this line of questioning wasn’t worth her time.

 

“Dirk I’m going to roll you onto your stomach, okay.”

 

Dirk nodded, and Farah, with the help of Todd, slowly started rolling him over. He groaned when the pressure increased on his bruised ribs. It was beginning to be harder to breathe. He started to panic.

Farah heard his increase in breaths, and said, “Dirk it’s going to be fine. Stay calm.”

 

She fired up the blowtorch. Dirk immediately tensed up. Todd put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. It helped a little. Slowly, she brought the blowtorch to the joint between the cuffs and started making her way through the metal. 

 

About 30 seconds in, Dirk started tensing up. 

 

“It’s hot” mumbled Dirk.

 

“What was that?” asked Farah.

 

He suddenly yelped and tried to move away. Afraid for Dirk’s safety, Farah switched off the blowtorch.

 

“It was hot. The metal.” said Dirk.

 

“Oh shit.” said Farah.

 

“I guess we forgot about how metal heats up.” stated Todd.

 

“We should do it in parts. It will take longer but might hurt him less.”

 

“I agree” said Dirk, who was listening in on their conversation.

 

After an hour, they finally separated the cuffs. To take them off of his wrists was a whole different story but they decided to deal with that later.

 

The tension that had been in his shoulders for the past day had finally been released. They rolled Dirk back onto his back and he closed his eyes.

 

While Farah tended to Dirk, the Rowdy Three sat in the corner, clearly restless. They needed something to do. Some place to terrorize.

 

“Hey,” said Amanda, “I saw a junkyard on the way here. Do ya guys want to destroy stuff?”

 

“Yea! Let’s go!” yelled Vogel, holding up and shaking the lead pipe from earlier. The Rowdy Three stampeded out the door with Amanda close behind. The took off East on the side of the road.

 

This left Todd, Farah, Ken, and Bart in the room with Dirk, asleep. Todd turned on the television. For once, the news was about something other than some ridiculous case they were a part of. There was nothing about the CIA or Blackwing or a prison break of any kind. It was...normal.

**Author's Note:**

> OOOOOh boy


End file.
